I have a new MacbookPro with 3 USB ports. The things that I need to plug into it are:External keyboard and laser mouse (both plug into usb port)A printer/scanner1TB external HD2TB external HD100 gig portable HD

I also use USB (though not all the time and probably not all at once) a mic, a 4 gig flash drive that I use a lot, my digital camera, my mp3 player, my phone...ect. you get the idea.

So I know many of these things don't need very high speed connection. I have a little 4 port hub that I plug my mouse, keyboard, printer, and flash drive (when I need it) into. But there's no way to get around the fact that I will not be able to plug all my hard drives into the comp directly. The mic also doesn't function correctly when plugged into the hub.I know I should be looking for something with its own power source. But what should I be looking for as far as transfer speed? I would appreciate advice as to what specs I need or any specific suggestions. Thanks!

You don't need anything fancy, just a standard powered usb 2 hub (or two) should do it. Pretty much every hub should be capable of usb high-speed (480 Mbits/s, or ~ 57 MBytes/s).

The only reason you would need a powered hub is for charging your phone/mp3 player, your digital camera...and your external HDDs (if they don't have their own power adapters, like a Western Digital Passport)

Use Thunderbolt for your HDDs. It sounds overkill and dumb but I've daisy-chained 60TB of space into my MacBook Air via that port. Free up your USB ports for things that can run slower or are USB only.